OUR OPINION: Drugs are killing us

It's time to pull together all levels of government, the medical establishment, law enforcement and private and public agencies and industries to save ourselves and our communities from the scourge of drug addiction.

For seven deadly years, we’ve recorded the pain and devastation of an overdose epidemic through our Wasted Youth and Killer Drugs next Door series. We’ve been entrusted with the heart-rending stories of broken lives and shattered families. Our reporters sifted through death certificates and discovered that from 2003-2007, 3,200 people died from overdoses related to opiates. In scores of stories and editorials we’ve referred to it as a crisis, an epidemic, a scourge.

But little has changed – except that since January of this year, the overdose rate has exploded beyond anything we’ve seen before.

State police Lt. Colonel Frank Matthews said on Thursday, “Two weekends ago, we had 11 overdoses (in Massachusetts) in one weekend. They were all dead.”

That weekend, 11 people died in a mass shooting where the weapon of choice was a needle, not a gun, and it wasn’t shocking enough to stir talk show or dinner table outrage.

On Tuesday, what did get everyone’s attention was the state police announcement that 185 human beings in Massachusetts have overdosed on heroin and died since Nov. 1, 2013. Since they don’t collect data on overdoses in Boston, Springfield or Worcester, the tally is likely significantly higher. And we know others have died this week.

Quincy police Lt. Detective Patrick Glynn, who helped create the department’s nationally emulated Narcan program, said as of Thursday the overdose-reversing drug has saved 226 people since October 2010 – and 25 since Jan. 1 of this year. Three died before they could be administered the life-saving drug.

Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey is now pressuring the Food and Drug Administration to loosen restrictions on Narcan. Currently, only those communities affiliated with DPH’s Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution pilot program can receive a doctor’s open prescription and train their first responders to use overdose-reversing drug.

In Washington, U.S. Rep. William Keating has repeatedly fought for legislation – Stop the Tampering of Prescription Pills Act – that would require makers of opioids to produce pills that can’t be cut or ground for snorting or injecting.

Instead of support for such a common-sense proposal, the FDA this week approved a new, stronger highly addictive drug, Zohydron, against the recommendation of its own advisory panel.

Quincy state Sen. John Keenan has been one of the most passionate and effective voices in the commonwealth when it comes to fighting drug abuse. He and everyone else familiar with this issue have noted a lack of available beds in treatment facilities.

“Private insurers must provide funding as well,” said Keenan, “whether through mandatory coverage for detox, step-down treatment, in-patient residential programs, out-patient programs, and community-based programs such as recovery homes, or through required contributions to a fund that would be used to assist with the funding of publicly offered programs.”

Page 2 of 2 - For decades, every level of law enforcement has dedicated resources to the “War on Drugs.” From DARE to DEA, we’ve pursued criminals, tracked suppliers and tried educating generations of school children.

While we don’t doubt the dedication or the skills of these officers, results of their efforts have them and every other citizen questioning the efficacy of these strategies.

All the actions cited, and many more untold are worthy efforts, born of human and civic concern. But they are single-lane strategies, coming at the problem from different directions.

Meanwhile, our children are dying. Our parents and spouses and neighbors are addicts. We are at ground zero for the overdose crisis. A 2012 report released by the Massachusetts Health Council found the South Shore has the country’s highest rate of emergency room visits involving illegal drugs.

What can we do?

Plenty.

First we admit that our current strategies are failing.

Then we come together to create a new, coordinated and comprehensive battle plan.

It’s time to pull together all levels of government, the medical establishment, law enforcement and private and public agencies and industries to save ourselves and our communities.

If we pool knowledge and resources, work across jursidictional lines, enlist the best minds from the private sector and public service, we can change the course of this raging river of death.

We call on Gov. Deval Patrick to convene a state task force immediately, which must include health-care professionals, law enforcement, legislators, the judiciary, department heads, families of addicts and private entities on the front lines of the fight to brainstorm how resources can best be coordinated.

If we pool mental energy, practical experience, cutting-edge science and financial resources, we can make this work.

Call the governor’s office at 617-725-4005 or write to the addresses below and ask that he create a Massachusetts Task Force to Combat Addiction.

Do it now.

It’s a matter of life or death.

Massachusetts State House

Office of the Governor

Room 105

Boston, MA 02133

Email us your letters to the governor at Editpage@ledger.com. Please put DRUGS in the subject line.